


Camp Takatoa

by alicat542



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-09-16 00:42:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9266177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alicat542/pseuds/alicat542
Summary: Kelley O'hara has worked at Camp Takatoa for the last two summers. Knowing that this is going to likely be her last summer with sunshine and carefree smiles she is determined to make it the best summer yet. Her plans are throttled when she discovers that her usual carefree partner in crime Alex has decided not to come for the summer and instead has been replaced with a snarky and uninterested Emily. Kelley is determined that even though her plan has changed, she is going to make this the summer that she had hoped for.From the musings of the previously untitled "Camp fic with Kelley and Emily"keetuhh.tumblr.com





	1. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

When the haze off of the hot pavement switched into a cloud of dust from the dirt road, Kelley instantly changed her music on her stereo from “Life is a Highway” to “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”. Rolling down her windows and turning on the volume she sped down the gravel letting her hair whip around her face and the hot summer heat mix with the cool stale air of her air conditioned car. Kelley screamed the lyrics at the top of her lungs as she pulled into a parking lot indicated by log halves and a scribbled sign that said “park here” with arrow pointing in the same general direction. She was greeted by the sight of several girls laying out on the grass who immediately “whooped” and hollered when they saw Kelley pull up. She hopped out and slid on her flip flops, not bothering to lock her car or roll up the windows before she barreled her way into a wave of hugs from the girls ahead of her. 

“Kelley it’s been so long!” squealed a stout muscular girl named Sydney directly in Kelley’s ear

“Since when do you not know how to text back?” huffed Morgan, a lanky girl who hated to be called anything other than Moe. 

“How do you manage to keep getting hotter?” said the tallest, Sam in a rough voice, mussing the top of Kelley’s hair. 

“Hi hi hi I love you, I miss you, you’re perfect, this is perfect!” Kelley screamed as she hugged and blew kisses to the ten other girls in front of her. The bouncing had barely stopped before Kristie, Sam’s older sister let out a tell tale whoop that brought all the girls to attention, Kelley’s hands almost shook at the excitement buzzing all around her as the girls scuttled into a circle. There were words somewhere in the well memorized chant, but to the untrained ear it would’ve just sounded like screaming and hollering. Kelley bounced up and down with the other girls as the same chant they had said upwards of 100 times each summer for the past 12 years, came to an end. Kelley wiped a bead of sweat from her hairline and detangled her limbs from the hugs of others to throw her hair up in a bun, silently counting all the girls in front of her. 

“Okay so it looks like everyone is here, but where the hell is Alex?” Kelley’s eyes scanned around for her partner in crime for the past two summers, but all she caught was a chorus of humming and shrugging shoulders. 

“Awkward…” Sydney whispered under her breath 

“Did she not tell you?” the brown haired tan girl named Christen asked

“Yeah she got an internship with her dad’s firm for the summer, so she’s not going to be able to come work with us this summer.” Tobin, one of Alex’s friends from college said. 

“Seriously? I was talking to her last night and she didn’t mention that she wasn’t going to be here for our last summer?” Kelley huffed out 

“Chill, it’s only your last summer if you want it to be, some of us just keep circling around, right?” A tall blonde named Ashlyn said as she slung her arm over Kelley’s shoulders “Don’t worry KO, it’ll be just fine. It’ll be way more fun for the rest of us not having to compete with you two and your Super Squad Cabin that wins every competition every year.” 

Kelley slumped down a little while the other girls continue to chat with one another reliving memories and humming over ideas that they already had for this coming summer. This was Kelley’s third summer as a counselor at Camp Takatoa and her twelfth summer overall at the camp. Kelley came to this camp every single year she was age eligible, and the second she could apply to be a counselor, her and all of her camp friends had made a pact to come back every year and work until they all graduated from college and had real jobs that kept them cooped up in air conditioned offices all summer. Most of the girls were going to be seniors in college in the upcoming year and this would likely be most of their last summer at their camp. Kelley for one was determined to spend as much time as she can in athletic shorts and chacos until she was secluded to a life in an office for the rest of her life and was determined to make the most out of this last summer. 

Looking around again Kelley counted the girls and realized her number was off by one. “Okay if Alex isn’t here then don’t we need one more? Do we have cabin assignments yet? And also can we talk about whatever Ashlyn is doing with her hair?” Kelley excited rambled off while the girls girls gathered duffle bags and walked towards a rickety building with a sign declaring it the “Dining Hall” resting on the roof. 

“I think it looks kindove nice.” Ali, a girl with a tangled top knot sitting atop her head said making sure to bump Ashlyn with her duffle bag “I’m sure someone else will show up, every year we have a few girls who we’re never sure if they’ll show up or not.” 

The group barged into the door and all took place at one of the long tables, crowding in way too close to one another on the benches and continuing to catch each other up on what’s been happening over the past year. The slamming of doors caught their attention, causing them to all look up and see a smiling Christie their camp director entering the dining hall. On her sides were Lauren and Amy her two staff directors and trailing behind her with a duffle bag slumped over her shoulder was a blonde her age that Kelley did not recognize. 

Lauren and Amy got right to work passing out folders to each of the counselors, giving their ecstatic greetings in the forms of hugs and kisses on the top of each girls head as they passed out the color coded folders to each girl. Kelley anxiously looked around as soon as she got her folder, looking to see who had the matching purple folder. Each cabin had it’s own color assigned to it corresponding with the folder that the girls were given and Kelley saw every other match except hers. She scanned the table again before her eyes landed on the blonde who trailed Christie before that she did not recognize holding a purple folder tightly in her hands, her eyes briefly meeting Kelley’s, glancing between Kelley and the folder in Kelley’s hand. 

Kelley’s thoughts instantly went from excited to anxious. For the past two summer’s she had been co-counselors with Alex and they had been the dream team, best cabin decorations, best attendance at events, they won all intramural sports and always had the spirit stick and the best outfits and suddenly her head was flooding and her idea of the perfect send off summer was going out the window. She looked up at the mystery blonde who was now looking away from Kelly and drumming her fingers on top of the purple folder casually looking at each of the other ten counselors.

Christie cleared her throat while each of the girls closed their folders and looked up at the smiling faces of their directors in front of them. 

“Welcome back ladies! I’m so excited to have you all back at Camp…” before Christie could finish all of the girls started whooping in unison, banging on the table and shouting along to the same chant they had said earlier, this time each girl trying to out yell the person next to her. The strange blonde was the only one aside from the directors who didn’t join in on the chant and instead hid a small chuckle and brushed whips of her hair out of her face. Kelley glanced over again and could help but wonder who this newbie was. 

“Okay okay! Now that we’ve got that taken care of, welcome back ladies! I’m so excited to spend such a fantastic summer with my hardworking staff! Typically we skip over the introductions because so many of you grew up with each other, but because we have a new face we’re going to go around the table and say our name, how many summers we’ve been working here, and something you like that starts with the first letter of your name.” The girls all let out a small groan in unison, which was answered with Lauren swatting Ashlyn on the back of her head with the welcome folder. 

“Get over it, we’re doing it anyway.” Lauren giggled “and with that, I’ll start. My name is Lauren and I like lemonade!” The way she clasped her hands together made her brown curls bounce and all of the counselors rolled their eyes as they giggled at her enthusiasm “I’ve been working at this camp for too many years to tell you the real number instead I’ll just say that I’m the staff director and in charge of everything water sports related.” She bumped her hips into Amy who bounced up on her toes and broke into a huge smile.

“I’m Amy, I love apple pie, I’m with Lauren when I say that you don’t need to know how old I am and I’m the staff director in charge of all programs on land.” Amy held her hand out in front of her and pretended like she was dropping a microphone which recieved a huge laugh from all the counselors. 

Ali who was sitting next to where Amy was standing went next and said she liked alligators with an exaggerated smile while everyone groaned, then was Ashlyn who said she liked Ali, which made Ali blush and everyone else boo loudly. Tobin liked taking naps, Crystal liked canoes, Steph liked singing raps badly, Moe liked Morgan Freeman, Christen liked canned food drives, Sam liked snakes, Sydney liked sliding into her boyfriends DM’s and Kristie liked kicking annoying people. By the time they rolled around to Kelley everyone was laughing and making fun of one another like they had been for so many years and all of the directors were already commenting on how it was going to be a long and sarcastic summer. 

“Hello everyone. My name is Kelley and I’m a camp counselor” Kelley made a long, serious face and dropped her voice which lead to a chorus of “come ons” and “just get it over withs” which was exactly the reaction she wanted. “I like kicking other cabins asses during the summer and like almost everyone else this is my twelfth summer here!” Kelley turned and looked down the table at the mystery blonde who had adjusted in her seat and pulled her shoulders back a bit.

Before she could talk Christie made her way over and stood behind the blonde’s chair. “Before she introduces herself, I just wanted to tell you that this summer I have a very special guest. My niece is doing me a huge favor and filling the place that is typically filled by Alex this summer. I know she is new to you guys but I know you all are going to make this a welcoming summer both for her and the 100 campers coming in a week!” She put her hands on the blonde's shoulders patting them in a comforting manner.

The blonde raise her eyebrows and smiled out of the side of her mouth, she straightened up again and winked at Christie. “Thanks Aunt C. So whats up guys, my name is Emily, I like eating at Chipotle and obviously this is my first summer here. When I was growing up my mom made me go to soccer specific camps so I’ve never been here before and now I’m holding a purple folder which isn’t the worst color, so, so far it’s going pretty great.” Emily ended with a smile and Christie patted her shoulders again before moving back to the front of the table. All of the other girls waved their hello’s at Emily and gave her warm smiles which Emily responded back with a smile that almost looked forced before she turned her attention back to her folder. 

Christie took their attention off of their new addition by opening up her own folder and going through the contents inside. Kelley fingered through the pages, seeing that the folder contained the usual contents. Map of the camp, daily schedule, list of activities, emergency numbers, names of their campers staying in their cabin as well as an information sheet for each camper. Kelley flipped through the camper information sheets and grinned as she saw many familiar names from the year before accompanied by the campers smiling headshot. She recognized right away that she was going to be in her favorite cabin, with the the thirteen year olds. The cabins were split up by age, ages 10-15. Kelley loved having the thirteen year olds, they were just old enough that they thought they were cool and self sufficient, but still young enough that they worshiped Kelley, which she of course loved. She looked over and saw that everyone else appeared to be in the same cabins as the year before, then she saw Emily, who had laid out every document inside of her folder on top of the table in front of her and looked as though she was trying to absorb all of it at once. 

Christie’s speech was similar to the speech that she gives every year, telling the counselors of their daily expectations. The counselors are in charge of all of the goings on within the camp, the activities that are done, that the campers have fun and that all their needs are met, such as eating, sleeping and writing to their parents. The counselors had various posts that they had to take during the day and at night, making sure that one counselor was available at any given time, as well as making sure that everyone was following the camp code of conduct. The list of rules was the first page inside of the folder that was skipped over by every girl at the table excluding Emily, warning the girls not to leave the campground unless it was their day off, not to consume drugs or alcohol on the premises, no inappropriate relationships between counselors or campers and the most important rule, no technology. 

Christie prided herself on having a technology free camp, the counselors had cameras that would capture pictures all summer but aside from that and a single landline in the main office, there was zero communication with the outside world. This was probably Kelley’s favorite part about camp. She had a full summer to be free and be herself and not have any tie to anyone else in the world, except on her one day off a week where she would sit at a Starbucks an hour away and play catch up on all of her social media and her friends text messages while relishing in air conditioning and processed foods. 

“With that note, please put all of your devices in here” Christie said as she passed a basket forward. All of the girls pulled out their cellphones and were as dramatic as they were every year with their goodbye to the the outside world. Ashlyn pretended to hum “Taps” under her breath while Sydney fake sobbed and put her phone in the basket. Kelley fished hers out and texted a quick “talk to you on my day off!” to her parents before turning her phone off and tossing it in. Emily walked down to where the other girls were sitting and put her phone in the basket with a audible sigh and took the seat next to Kelley. 

“Hey! I’m Kelley!” Kelley had a smile plastered on her face as she reached her hand forward to shake with Emily. 

“Yeah, I heard you like kicking some ass?” Emily asked with a raised eyebrow. She held out a fist in front of her and stared down at Kelley’s handshake. “Don’t be so formal, we’re about to live in a cabin together for eight weeks” Emily’s eyebrow was still raised, showing Kelley that she was teasing. Kelley brought her fist out and bumped it against Emily’s who took her fist away and made the fist bump “blow up” afterwards with the accompanying sound effects. 

“So you’re new here?” Kelley asked when Emily settled into her chair.

“Yeah. First summer here. No biggie.” Emily replied with a shrug, it was clear to Kelley that it was “a biggie” but instead she just smiled. “So how old are our rugrats anyway. All they gave us was their birthyear and that just made me feel ancient.” Emily had pulled out the roster and information sheets on each camper and scrunched up her eyebrows like she was trying to figure out just how old someone was who was born in 2002. 

Kelley laughed and elbowed Emily and nodded towards Christie who was still speaking which just resulted in a scoff from Emily. Soon after Christie welcomed the girls again and encouraged them to head towards their cabins and settle in for the summer, telling the girls to note their to do list in the folder and when to meet back for dinner. 

There was a scuttle as the girls scooted out of the long benches and pulled the duffel bags back over their shoulders. Every girl had partnered up with their folder partner and was walking out of the dining hall already chatting away with ideas for cabin themes and team names. Kelley adjusted her bag and smiled at Amy and Lauren while she waited for Emily to grab her bag so they could head toward their cabin together. 

“To answer your question from earlier, our girls are 13.” Kelley fell in step with Emily to her side. Emily hummed in approval. “We have a bunch of girls who were in my cabin last year when I had the twelves. They’re pretty sweet and super wild. They will be asking questions about your personal life in about three seconds.” Kelley laughed already picturing the girls Sarah and Caitlin who had asked Kelley on end about her boyfriend last summer, a man that Kelley had completely created just to keep the girls entertained, a secret that she never let them in on. 

“So they’re nosey is what you’re saying?” Emily looked over her shoulder at Kelley who just shrugged. 

“They’re 13 and stuck without technology all summer is what I’m saying. They’re either going to make drama with each other or be super interested in our lives. Trust me, them being interested in our lives is way better to deal with.” Emily continued to hum in approval and opened up the door to cabin that had the number 3 hanging above the doorframe. Kelley followed Emily in and sighed at the familiar scent. 

The ancient air conditioner in the window hummed noisily as it tried to produce a pathetic amount of air to cool the large cabin. Dust hung in the air and was illuminated by the sunlight streaming through the windows. The bunk beds were lined up in the same shape that Sydney and Tobin left the cabin in last summer, in some weird geometric shape that they said helped with the flow of the cabin. There was a faint dripping sound that came from the showers and bathrooms at the back of the cabin and the whole place smelled of stale air, dust and warm air. Kelley inhaled deeply and instantly searched for the best bunk. 

“Do I know you well enough to tell you that was weird? Because it was weird.” Emily huffed, throwing her duffle onto the concrete floor and walking towards the air conditioner. Kelley just laughed in response. 

“I’ve gone to this camp every summer for half my life, a lot of weird shit has happened here.” Kelley continued to search through the stack of bunk beds, testing the firmness of each mattress out with her hand. 

“Rule four. No bad language.” Emily clucked her tongue towards Kelley and started banging her hand against rusty air conditioner, that did nothing but sputter. “Fuck this” she said under her breath.

“Are you hot?” Kelley asked as she climbed up to a top bunk in the middle of the room. Emily nodded her head. “Get used to it. You’re not going to stop sweating until you have this camp 30 miles in your rearview mirror.” She threw herself onto the bed that let out a puff of dust and an exhausted sigh. “Yup, this is the one.”

“You’re an adult and you want a top bunk? Why?” Emily’s condescending tone cut through Kelley who just tried to let it roll off.

“It’s all about leverage. When these girls decide they want to pull “Parent Trap” level pranks on their counselors, you do not want to be on the bottom floor where there is easier access.” Kelley had climbed back down and headed toward stacks of dressers, already picking out her drawer. 

Emily sat down on a bottom bunk and pulled her straight hair out of the messy ponytail and tried to put the sticky sweaty strands back up. Kelley, satisfied with a drawer walked back over to her duffle and started unloading her clothes. She already missed Alex, someone who she has known since she was ten and wouldn’t have this awkward silence with. She let her eyes scan over Emily, who was now sitting criss cross on a bunk and pulled her duffle up with her. Her short legs were folded into her and her neon green shorts had a stark contrast to her pale skin. She had on a grey racerback tank top that was sticking to her sides with the unfamiliar heat. Her eyebrows were pinched together while she was shuffling through her duffle bag, sighing every few seconds. 

Kelley rolled her eyes, grabbed her bag and started unpacking, already planning another trip to her car to gather the other supplies that she had brought for the summer. Kelley pulled out the many pairs of Nike shorts she had packed for the summer and threw them into a draw haphazardly. They only did laundry every few weeks so Kelley made sure to bring as many outfits as she could fit into her car, knowing she would go through a few every day. She reached into her bag and pulled out a can of bug spray and started applying it to her freckled arms and legs before walking over to where Emily sat and offered the can to her. 

“Nah. I’m fine. Bug’s don’t really bother me.” Emily shrugged and Kelley pulled the can back, resisting the urge to scoff or roll her eyes. She knew that Emily was going to spend tonight scratching every surface of her body, but she wanted to be welcoming to the new counselor, not come off as a know it all. 

“I’m going to run over to my car and grab a few other things that I brought. Do you wanna come with me, we can brainstorm cabin names?” Kelley smiled and slipped her sunglasses back down on her nose. 

“No thanks. We can do that later. I think I’m going to go out and explore for a little while.” Emily had a notebook and pencil in her hand and walked out of the door past Kelley nodding in her direction. Kelley watched as Emily walked away, flip flops slapping the ground and bringing up soft puffs of dirt as she walked towards the lake.

Kelley shook her head and looked over at cabin number two, where Ali and Ashlyn were already hanging a sign in the window that said “The Best Cabin” decorated with sharks and cats and crowns. She heard the pair laughing and was upset that she was already feeling disappointed with what was supposed to be her last good summer. It’s not that Emily doesn’t seem friendly enough, but it already isn’t living up to the awesome expectations that she had set for herself. She slammed the screen door behind her and walked towards her car. “Alex, I’m gonna kick your ass.” she muttered under her breath.


	2. Uptown Funk

Kelley had huffed her way into the cabin for the fifth time, finally having moved everything from her car into the cabin. Well, except for the emergency bottle of tequila that she had hidden in her trunk covered by an old sweatshirt and half a dozen Cliff Bar wrappers. She let the heavy box she was carrying down with a heavy thud. She decided that because she saw a puff of dust come up from the ground as it landed, that it was far time to sweep and start arranging the bunks how they wanted them set up for the summer. She dug through the storage closet in the back of the cabin that was filled with about a dozen brooms that were broken in some manner or another, various pieces of poster board from the past summers declaring point systems and cabin names and boxes of trash bags until she found the least broken broom and a makeshift dust pan. 

“Is it really our job to clean too?” Kelley turned around and saw Emily leaning against the door frame, the screen door pushed wide open and to the side. Kelley had made several small piles of dirt on the floor and was going around the entire cabin a second time. 

“No, there are people who come and clean a few times over the summer, but it is our job to make this place at home for our campers.” Kelley replayed the message in her mind, assessing if it came off nearly as bitchy as she felt it had. She looked up and saw Emily make her way towards the still open back closet and pull out a broom with an impossibly short handle before she started sweeping near the entrance, throwing the piles of dirt outside. 

“So I’ve been looking over that list that Aunt C gave us.” Emily started. She was in a weird half squat trying to reach the broom to the ground and made a face every time dust flew up in the air. It made Kelley stifle back a laugh a little at the idea that Emily was so clearly uncomfortable with their living circumstances, but had to do it for the next two months. Kelley hummed in approval and waited for Emily to continue.

“How do you typically set up for the summer? I mean clearly this isn’t your first rodeo but for a first timer, I’m looking at this list, and then remembered how much we get paid for this and I am seriously struggling not to do the math and figure out how much it is worth it.” Her tone struck Kelley the wrong way. Kelley loved Camp Takatoa, this had been her second home for over half her life, and the idea that someone thinks they’re too good to spend time here is not really someone she feels like spending lots of time with. Emily was now sitting on a bottom bunk, one elbow resting on her knee with her hand cradling her face, the other was reaching the broom out as far as the broken handle would allow her and making long sweeping strokes to get the dirt out of the cabin. It was not working. 

Kelley took a breath and examined the cabin. There was no longer any “visible” dirt on the concrete floor and was already starting to feel more at home. She looked over at Emily who was in her same position but looking at Kelley curiously, a small pile of dirt still at her feet. Kelley leaned the broom against the wall and walked over to the bunk across from Emily and leaned against the frame. They had a moment of strange eye contact before Kelley plastered her best Camp Counselor Smile and figured out her plan for action. 

“What do you like to do?” her eyes examined as Emily’s posture changed and she sat up a little bit.

“What do you mean?”

“Like when you fill out your tinder profile, or you are in a job interview and someone asks you what you do in your spare time. What do you say?”

“Aside from doing copious amounts of hard drugs and making pipe bombs?” 

Kelley was taken aback by the stone cold serious expression on Emily’s face, it wasn’t until Emily’s eyes wrinkled and she started chuckling that Kelley realized she was indeed just trying to get under Kelley’s skin. 

“Well heroin and pipe bombs are hardly camper friendly activities, anything else that we could use that would apply here?” Kelley’s Camp Counselor Smile had started to falter just a little when she watched Emily shrug. 

“I watch a few sports but nothing that I really follow strictly, same with tv.” Kelley gritted her teeth, trying not to get frustrated with Emily and her lack of vision for how she wanted the summer to be.

“What about movies or cartoons? Did you watch any of those as a kid?” Kelley felt incredibly better when Emily smiled a little.

“Of course I did, what kind of self respecting 90’s kids didn’t?” Emily seemed to have caught on that Kelley was pulling information from her, and was at least being more responsive, having sat up straighter on the bed and stopped fiddling with the broom. She pulled her legs into her and sat criss cross on the bed and let the broom tumble to the ground. 

“Okay so one of the things on the to-do list is to come up with a cabin theme, and we also need to make name tags for each of the kids based off of the theme. So maybe we could do something 90’s related, isn’t it retro now or something?” Kelley laughed a little at her own joke and felt better when she saw Emily’s shoulders relax a little. 

“What did you do last year?”

“Last year Alex and I went all out and did a Grey’s Anatomy theme, we made little name signs for the girls out of surgical masks and signs about “finding your person” and we had a few Grey’s Anatomy watch parties and a lot of the girls were pretty into it. We would split them into groups based off of like different departments like cardio or general.” Kelley rambled remembering how proud her and Alex were of coming up with a theme they were sure no one would steal. Some counselors picked pretty general themes for their cabins like friendship, or flowers or something that would be pretty easy decorate with. There was one disastrous year where Ashlyn and Tobin were paired together and they had made the theme of their cabin red. The color red. They made decorations red and nametags were just on red pieces of paper, Christie learned that the two of them did not have enough creativity to be partners again. 

Kelley woke up out of memory lane to watch Emily looking at her curiously, before shrugging.

“I mean they’re going to be having a summer doing a bunch of other things and not being in a cabin, so does it really matter what the theme is?” Kelley knew that emily had a point, but that didn’t stop her from letting out a frustrated huff, this was not how this was supposed to go and not according to her well manufactured plan. 

“That's true. But think about it, these are kids away from their home for two months, we have to make it feel as home and comfortable and possible, and having a lame theme to break the ice is often a big step for them.” Kelley shrugged her shoulders and her mind was racing with ideas that she could do herself if her partner wasn’t willing to work with her, she was snapped out of her daze when she heard Emily inhale.

“You’re right. So about this 90’s theme, what ideas do you have?” Emily shrugged and looked away but Kelley felt a sense of victory anyway. 

A few hours later all the counselors had joined together again for a Welcome Back Pizza Party thrown by Christie, Lauren and Amy. The counselors were in the dining hall all spread out among one of the tables the table. Crystal and Steph were sitting on top of the table, their legs criss cross so that they could see everyone at once, Sam had her back resting against Christen and her long legs taking up at least enough space for three people on the benches and Ali was laying down on her back with her head resting on Ashlyn’s thigh. 

All of the girls had already relaxed into the camp lifestyle and were clearly feeling right at home. Emily had even seemed to relax a little, resting her elbows on the table and slouching into her pizza. Amy and Lauren were making the rounds, sitting down or across from each of the returning counselors and caught up on all the happenings over the past year. While Amy and Lauren were busy catching up on the gossip, they also passed around pictures of their kids, which made all of the girls coo in excitement over how they have grown in the past year. 

Christie had two daughters that she had brought with her for the pizza party which Kristie and Morgan were currently in a competition over who can drink a juice box the fastest. The eldest of Christie’s daughters, Riley was going to be coming to the camp for the first time this summer and was clearly eating up the alone time she was getting with the counselors. Christie’s other daughter Reece was two years too young but was still all about the pizza party and was jumping around after ingesting three juice boxes. 

The air was calm and relaxed and the camp atmosphere had started and Kelley was finally feeling at ease with the summer for the first time since she heard Alex wasn’t coming. Each of the girls were laughing and laid back and all had relaxed smiles on their faces. Emily had fallen into a casual conversation with Sam across the table and Kelley noticed out of the corner of her eye that Emily seemed to have less of a fake smile even though Sam was doing most of the talking. 

Christie cleared her throat and everyone turned their heads in her direction, even Reece and Riley who each had pizza hanging out of their mouths. She pulled out a credit card and slapped it down on the table which caused an eruption of cheers. 

“Ladies, you know I trust you with this and I know you’ll all stay within your budget. I’ll leave this with you guys for tonight to go do any shopping that you need to do for your cabins. Don’t forget we have the supply closet that is stuffed from the ghosts of campers past, so make sure to dig through that before you buy anything new.” Christie gestured towards the main office building where the supply closet was but the whole room was already buzzing with excitement over the trip to Walmart that they were all going to make and seeing the ideas that the other counselors had come up with. 

They cleaned up the plates and the pizza boxes and put the leftovers in the industrial sized fridge in the kitchen of the dining hall and said goodbye to Lauren and Amy who were headed home for the night to spend time with their families and Christie whose husband had arrived to pick up her girls. 

The counselors had all gathered outside the dining hall and were already splitting themselves up into cars for the 30 minute trek to the various stores. Tobin, Crystal and Ashlyn all produced a set of keys meaning that they were the self nominated drivers. 

“Okay counselors, you have 50 dollars and one hour to buy your supplies. Make it work.” Sam’s Tim Gunn impression got a hearty chuckle out of most of the girls including Emily who had sidled up next to Kelley and pulled out the list that they had made together earlier. The girls walked towards the parking lot and loaded themselves into Crystal’s car, along with Crystal’s co counselor Sydney. It took less than two seconds for Sydney to cut to the chase. 

“Okay spill, what's your theme, because ours is pretty badass and you’ll never beat us.” She was turned all the way around in the front seat with her seatbelt behind her making direct eye contact with Emily who just burst out laughing. 

“Is she serious?” Emily’s eyes were wide and she was still chuckling and looking at Kelley for some sort of clue.  
“Honey you have no idea how serious we are. These are about to be the most glam eleven year olds you can ever imagine.” Crystal heckled from the front seat. 

Kelley nodded and added “These two aren’t messing around. Every year no matter who they are with, their cabin and their campers rock.” 

Sydney grinned and Crystal voiced her agreement mumbling something about how nobody messes with her clique while Emily raised her eyebrows and smiled.

“Okay newbie, the question still stands, what’s your theme? What are you guys doing to decorate?” Sydney now had her finger pointed in Emily’s direction who had raised her hands up in defense.

“Lay off Syd, we’ll show you ours if you show us yours.” Kelley said with a wink.

“We are doing none other than the Queen herself!” Crystal said as she banged on the steering wheel for emphasis.

“Wait the Queen. Like of England?” Emily had apparently asked the wrong question by how Crystal swerved the car just a little bit and Sydney’s eyebrows shot into her hairline.

“Tell me she is kidding. Kelley tell me she’s joking.” Crystal’s eyes searched for Kelley in the rearview mirror

“Emily, they mean Beyonce. Like Queen Bey.” Kelley was clutching her sides with how hard she was laughing, her eyes switching back and forth from Sydney who was shaking her head and Emily who was awkwardly giggling along as well. “It’s okay.” Kelley patted Emily’s knee, still laughing hysterically. “It takes a while to be able to catch up to these two.” Emily shrugged a little and hid her embarrassment by brushing back a strand of hair and letting out her over anxious smile again. 

“This girl was dead ass serious. She thought we were doing the Queen of England.” Sydney gestured towards Crystal who was giggling still. 

“I mean let's think about it. You could do like a royalty based cabin. Give each girl a crown or do like tiara name tags, have a queen for a day and each camper could take turns doing it. Have all kinds of royal decorations.” Emily defended her stance with a strangely strong conviction causing Sydney to shrug her shoulders.

“Okay newbie, that isn’t the world's worst idea. I’ll give you some credit.” As Sydney spoke Emily’s eyes lit up slightly realizing that they had just been teasing. “Now that you know ours, tell us, what is your grand idea Miss *best cabin 2016*” Sydney had turned and was now grabbing the back of her seat attempting to face Kelley who was directly behind her.   
Kelley straightened up her back and put her hands down on her knees. “Okay we are doing a… wait for it…” She looked between Crystal and Sydney with excited eyes.

“Spit it out!” Crystal shouted back smiling

“Throwback Thursday 90’s edition!” Kelley said excitedly, she looked over at Emily who was grinning as well, searching everyone in the car for approval. 

“Okay okay, a 90’s theme. I can dig it.” Sydney nodded looking at Emily whose shoulders relaxed significantly. “You can do a lot with that, and the girls will think it’s pretty good.”

Kelley raised her eyebrows towards Emily as if to silently say “see. I told you so.” 

“It was all Kelley’s idea. I’m not gonna lie, I wasn’t necessarily overflowing with ideas.” Emily admitted with a shrug. “I’m still trying to get used to this whole “exiled to the wilderness” thing that I’m in.” 

The feeling in the car got a little heavier for a moment while everyone digested what Emily just said. 

“Don’t get me wrong, I wish I had my phone and was able to text my boyfriend all summer or troll on facebook but working here is like the last feeling from being exiled.” Sydney sighed, which received approving nods and hums from Kelley and Crystal. Emily shrugged again and smiled out of the corner of her mouth. 

“Just wait until the campers arrive. Those kids are crazy! In the best way of course, and you’ll feel like you’re 12 years old having the time of your life all over again.” Crystal said, turning up the radio just a bit, clearly trying to defrost the sudden chilly atmosphere of the car. “Speaking of Queen Bey!” Crystal shouted bringing her hands off of the steering wheel momentarily to dance to Crazy In Love that just came on the radio.

Sydney and Crystal put on a well choreographed dance in the car as they pulled into the nearest town, the road switching from dark and barren to light and smooth. Crystal pulled into the dollar store parking lot where the other two cars of counselors were waiting. Sam was sitting on the hood of Tobin’s car with a plastic cup on her head and Christen was attempting to knock it off by using balled up receipts that had clearly come from the back of Tobin’s car at Sam’s head. 

“Finally slow pokes” Steph said with an exasperated sigh, she was sitting in the open hatchback of Ashlyn’s car and hopped out slamming it shut, almost getting Kristie’s fingers caught in the process. 

“You know we were driving with the queen of 5 under the speed limit.” Sydney shoved Crystal in the side who held her hands up defensively.  
“I can promise I am the only one out of this bunch who has never gotten a ticket, am I right?” Crystal looked around at everyone who was either laughing or hanging their head. 

Ashlyn whipped the lanyard that was holding her keys towards Tobin and jerked her head to the store. The group of girls all entered the mostly quiet store loudly, all laughing and going through their list of things to buy, Emily hanging towards the back her eyes searching for Kelley. The girls split up into their partners and started wandering around the store, Kelley quickly grabbed Emily’s elbow and lead them straight to the aisle marked “arts and crafts” on one side and “toys and apparel” on the other side. 

“So this can’t be cheesy 90’s it’s gotta be cool, retro 90’s” Kelley said walking down the aisle, occasionally stopping at things like army men and feather boas. Emily wandered around the other side looking at the “apparel” side not really knowing what she was looking for. Her eyes scanned down the aisle until they got caught on something.

“Kelley, what about these?” She picked up a package of five bandanas in the traditional paisley pattern that were army green and handed it to Kelley. “We could do that whole Destiny’s Child Survivor thing with like the rolled up bandanas?” Emily did a sort of dance with her arms reminiscent of the video “or if that’s too much like the Queen Bey cabin it could even be like the dorky 90’s bandanas that looked like handkerchiefs that everyone used to wear on their heads?” Emily was looking eagerly at Kelley who had her eyes wide in an amused expression. 

“Yes yes! That’s an awesome idea! Get like five of those packages, we’ll have at least 20 campers and you and I will need some of course. Good thinking!” Kelley raised her hand for a high five which got a raise eyebrow and a smirk from Emily.

“No highfives remember?” She held out a fist for a fist bump and was pleased when Kelley reciprocated and made the explosion sounds afterwards. 

Kelley felt lighter seeing that Emily was clearly trying now. She threw the packages into the basket and continued down the aisle. When they checked out they had bandanas (tie dye this time thinking it fit the theme better), slap bracelets and a coloring book filled with 90’s cartoon television show characters. Kelley looked around and saw Crystal and Sydney checking out with bags of sequins and fake jewels, Ali and Ashlyn had packages of stickers of marine animals, Sam and Moe had mini soccer balls and a tiny goal that they had found, Tobin and Christen had foam surfboards that fit in the palm of your hand and Kristie and Steph had foam footballs and NFL stickers. She turned her head and saw Sam talking to Emily about their theme and Kelley smiled, knowing she was just overeacting earlier with her panic. 

They all loaded in the cars, drove the short distance to Walmart where everyone unloaded again and made their way into the store. Tobin immediately climbed into a cart and Ashlyn got a running start pushing her down the aisles. Ali linked arms with Christen and followed behind the two of them. Emily and Kelley along with Sam and Moe strolled down aisles slowly, looking to see if anything would fit their feel of the cabin. Moe let out a loud “hell yes!” when they were down the home goods aisle and found a soccer shaped door mat. Kelley and Emily decidedly hit the jackpot when they found a package of five posters for five dollars that were all 90’s bands and singers. She let out a deep belly laugh when Sam, Moe and Emily all did the traditional dance to Bye Bye Bye by N*Sync in the aisle. Emily perked up a bit when Kelley told her that there were a ton of board games at camp that they could use for a 90’s board game night and Kelley squealed in excitement when they plastic string and beads to make lanyards. 

They met everyone else in the snack aisle all loading up with junk food to snack on for a couple of days and all the food meant for all night parties meant for decorating cabins and getting to know each other. Ashlyn was the first to suggest that they go down the alcohol aisle, but everyone whooped and followed her. 

“Wait, aren’t we in charge of children? We can drink?” Emily looked astonished for a second as all of the counselors were putting in cheap bottles of wine and six packs in the cart. 

“Don’t worry. The campers aren’t here for another week, and once they are here only one of us is on duty when they go to bed. We’re all responsible. If you get Amy going she can tell you so many stories of her being hung over trying to lead rise and shine yoga at six am when she was a counselor.” Moe’s voice seemed to help relax Emily’s eyebrows a little who ended up putting her own pack of hard cider with a shrug. 

They all walked to the checkout, separating their items from the camp paid for items and all headed back toward camp. The ride back was much smoother than the right there, Sydney and Emily fell into a conversation that sparked from Emily’s Destiny’s Child idea and Kelley chimed in from time to time about her favorite song. Crystal put on music again, digging through her CD’s and found an old mixed CD that she had allegedly made in middle school that had everyone in the car laughing over the mix of early 2000’s pop and rap. 

Everyone met again and unloaded in the dining hall, throwing all of their supplies on top of the table. Kelley went with Christen and Kristie to grab things from the supply closet. Kelley’s arms were full of poster board and construction paper and Christen and Kristie had grabbed markers and everything else to decorate and prepare. 

“So, you still depressed over Alex not being here?” Kristie asked while piling stuff into Kelley’s outstretched arms. 

“I can’t quite figure Emily out yet, and I know Alex and I were just such a good team. But we’ll be okay.” Kelley shrugged making her way towards the Dining Hall with Christen at her heels.

“She seems really sweet!” Christen chimed in, who always has something nice to say about everyone. 

“Yeah Sam had some nice things to say about her.” Kristie was Sam’s older sister so Kelley was sure that Kristie had asked Sam for all the information she had as soon as they had piled in the car. 

They walked into the Dining Hall where Steph had already found the radio and had put on the same CD that Crystal had played in the car. Kelley placed her stash down on the table and the other girls ran forward trying to get to the best supplies. Steph and Crystal had already started dancing, each with a beer in their hand. Ali was laying on the floor with a poster board in front of her and was drawing what appeared to be a giant shark. Sydney had a poster of Beyonce and was gluing that to a poster. In 15 minutes the entire Dining Hall had turned into a lively workshop where fun conversation was happening everywhere. 

Emily walked forward and handed Kelley a cider and sat criss cross on the floor next to her. Kelley had already started cutting out green cardstock in a splat pattern for the nametags for the girls. Emily opened up the 90’s coloring book and started cutting out the specific characters. They didn’t talk to one another as they worked but they got caught up into bits of other people’s conversations. The worked together until Ali walked over and grabbed Kelley’s hand pulling her up from the ground so that all of the returning counselors could do a choreographed dance that they had done for the talent show the year before. Emily awkwardly chuckled as the girls formed a soul train and danced down to the tune of Uptown Funk, by the time everyone settled down and sat back down it was clear that everyone was mostly done working on stuff for the night, Emily tidied up her mess on the ground and walked over to Kelley and sat down next to her at the table where everyone had gathered. 

“Whats going on?” Emily whispered to Kelley. Kelley who was feeling the buzz of a few beers just smiled nudged Emily.

“Camp tradition. Get used to it, there's like a million of them. Don’t worry, I’ll catch you up.” Kelley’s whisper was a bit louder than she had intended but the other girls around her had laughed with her. Emily’s non committal shrug pushed Kelley’s buttons again but rather than saying anything she just took another slug of her cider. “It’s never have I ever, or Ashlyn’s favorite game so she can tease the shit out of you for the rest of the summer.” Kelley said this with a louder voice which caused Ashlyn to give a smile and a wink over to the two of them. 

“As I do every year, I will start us off” Ashlyn said with forced bravado. “Never have I ever worked at a camp that is run by my aunt.” All of the eyes zeroed in on Emily who rolled her eyes and took a sip.

“That was a cheap shot Ash” said Christen 

“Yeah at least make us work for it!” Steph said raising what appeared to be an individual bottle of wine in front of her. 

“Okay okay I’ll go again.” Ashlyn said brushing hair out of her face.

“No chance Ash, you know the rules, I’ll go next.” Tobin looked around and said “never have I ever gotten wasted on the doc and left a bottle out for campers to find the next day.” Tobin chuckled and watched Steph lower her eyes and take a long sip accompanied by Kristie, Sam and Moe. 

“It’s amazing that one of them didn’t drown.” Kelley heard Sydney say to Emily who chuckled. 

“Okay, never have I not worked with the tenners!” Moe said excitedly. She loved having the youngest of the camp and convincing all of the little ones that they were the hardest and the toughest and the cabin to beat. She had an army of 10 year olds by the end of the summer who all worshiped her and wanted to be just like Moe. Everyone sighed and took a sip and they continued going around the circle. The classic questions were asked and there were quite a few teasing questions that were clearly angled to embarrass certain people. 

Ashlyn sighed and held her head in her hands when Ali said that never had she ever had a camper fall in love and stalk her over the summer, which caused an eruption of laughter out of Emily. Christen got a few hard glances when she said that she had never kissed another counselor during a game of truth or dare, which Ali and Ashlyn looked the other direction and each took a sip, so did Tobin and Kelley. Kelley blushed when she saw Emily’s eyes glance to her but continued drinking and averted her gaze. 

“Okay, never have I ever been a camper here.” Emily said just loud enough for everyone to scoff and take a drink. 

By this time the bottles were mostly empty and all of the leftover pizza had been finished. The counselors all agreed it was the best time to throw away all the bottles and the trash and head back to their cabins for bed. The Dining Hall was still scattered with art supplies and nametags everywhere but when all the food was cleaned up the consensus was to come back and finish in the morning. The counselors all stumbled out and headed towards their cabins. Tobin had convinced Christen to give her a piggy back ride, Moe and Sam had thrown their flip flops in their back pockets and ran barefoot, racing to their cabin and Emily and Kelley walked slowly carrying a few of their supplies back with them.

“So what do you think of your first night here?” Kelley asked, the warm air outside was less than comfortable and she felt a bead of sweat slip down the back of her legs. She huffed and lifted the bags up higher and tried to evaluate how much three beers had affected her cognitive functioning. 

“It seems pretty okay so far. The girls are a blast.” Emily said, she stuck her leg out to catch the door and swing it open for Kelley and they dumped all of their cabin supplies in the closest empty bed.   
“I know we can be a lot. But it really does end up being a ton of fun.” Kelley didn’t know why she felt the need to be defensive of the camp but the way that Emily nodded and started putting sheets on her bed without responding started to ruffle Kelley’s feathers a little. Kelley realized that out of the game of Never Have I Ever, she ended up not learning anything about Emily, and was trying to decide if she felt guilty about that. Emily had finished pulling the sheets on her bed and pulled a toiletry bag out and headed to the bathrooms. 

“I shower in the morning if that’s okay.” She said over her shoulder. Kelley was halfway up to the top bunk stretching sheets over her bed balancing and trying not to fall over. She suddenly regretted not trying to do this before she was a little drunk or that she hadn’t picked a top bunk at least for the first night. 

Emily had returned from the bathroom and stifled a laugh when she saw Kelley finally struggle over and get onto her fully made bed. Kelley laid back and let her gaze settle on Emily who had changed into a tank top and a pair of sleep shorts. Emily quickly busied herself and settled into her bed, she flipped through her same notebook that she had earlier and glanced over the last few pages. Kelley slung herself back off the bed and quickly and drunkenly got ready. She walked over towards the front of the cabin and turned the lights off, feeling her way over to her bunk.

“Please don’t die trying to get on your bed. I don’t know if I can handle 20 thirteen year olds by myself.” Emily snorted from her bed. She had out a book light and it was clipped to a novel that Kelley could not see the title of. 

“I’ll be fine, can you just shine that light a little my way?” Emily chuckled and angled the light towards the ground so Kelley could safely walk to her bed. 

“It’s cute that you think you’d get any reading done while you’re here.” Kelley snorted, flopping down on her stomach and pulling her covers over her back.

“Cute huh? Weren’t you one of the counselors who had made out with another one before?” Emily’s teasing tone made Kelley’s eyes narrow.

“It was one time and I was way more drunk than I am right now. Also Ali is a fox.” Kelley could feel herself sweating in bed and already felt bad for making fun of Emily and the air conditioner earlier. 

“Well now I know who to watch out for during all of these millions of camp traditions I guess.” Even though Kelley had her eyes closed she heard Emily snicker, she turned her head and opened one eye and saw Emily leaning against the back of her bunk with a book resting on her knees, her face softly illuminated by the booklight. She might be new and she might be a bit standoffish, but Kelley decided that there were probably worse co counselors to have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't make any promises, but I can say I'm going to try to stick to a schedule of updating once a week, probably on Saturday or Sunday. Anything else would be a miracle from the Lord God herself. Comments and feedback always appreciated and of course not every chapter will move this slow.


	3. Party in the USA

Kelley’s mind registered the sound of blow dryer before it woke her up officially. She groaned and flipped over, shoving her head under her pillow and sighing into her sheets, which she found to her annoyance, were coming off of the bed by the corners. She heard the blow dryer shut off and counted to ten in her head, amping herself up to wake up and face other people. 

“That’s gonna last like two days, tops” Kelley popped her head up and searched wildly around the cabin for Emily who was fresh from the shower in a clean pair of denim shorts and a tank top and flopped back on her bed with her freshly blow dried hair pulled to one side. 

Emily scoffed “Please tell me that’s how long your snoring is going to last too?” she looked up at Kelley who was still laying flat on her stomach and stretching each of her limbs individually. Kelley finally registered the comment and flipped herself over, swinging her legs over the side of the bunk.

“I don’t snore. I breathe heavy when I sleep.” Kelley said with conviction, she pulled the sweaty strands of hair, stuck to her from a long sleep into a ponytail and then shakily climbed down from the top bunk. She heard Emily snicker as she landed on the ground and padded her way into the bathroom.

“And do all of your boyfriends buy that excuse?” Emily heckled from her bed. 

“I’m going to ignore that comment and just respond by telling you that I’m using some of your toilet paper.” Kelley shouted from the bathroom, grinning at herself at her comment. 

“Okay but seriously, between that and the teeth grinding you should see a doctor. Also, the camp provides the toilet paper so do better.” Emily was clearly pleased with herself, sitting all the way up in her bed applying sunscreen on her arms and legs. 

“That was nothing compared to you scratching your bug bites all night. You ready to listen to the master?” Kelley gestured to Emily’s legs that were covered with tiny red mosquito bites. Emily rolled her eyes and Kelley let herself have a satisfied grin while she searched through her clothes to find the pair of shorts she was looking for. 

“I’m gonna hit the showers, we’ll make our game plan in 15? Cool? Go team.” Kelley said all of this over her shoulder as she headed into the bathrooms with a towel swung over her shoulders.

“Aye Aye captain.” The sarcasm dripped from Emily’s voice, Kelley snickered and hoped that Emily’s early morning rise and shine momentum wouldn’t last all summer. 

Always a woman of her word, Kelley emerged from the bathrooms 15 minutes later, her shoulders wet from her dripping hair that she lazily put half up in a towel. She plodded over and sat down on the bottom bunk across from Emily, eyeing the blonde, who had similar to yesterday had laid out all of the contents of the employee folder on her bed and was quickly scanning over all of them. 

“You look like you’re thinking of backing out on me.” Kelley laughed lightly looking over at emily who had sighed and ran her hands through her blow-dried hair, which to Kelley’s amusement was already starting to frizz. 

“Not backing out. But there’s a lot to get done, on top of the fact that we are also responsible for literal children in five days when they show up. We have to like make sure they eat and sleep and take showers.” Emily had started stacking the papers back and put them back into the folder and then leaned into her bunk looking over at Kelley.

“I mean yeah, but it’ll get done. Don’t stress, seriously. The children are hardly children, they’re pretty self sufficient for the most part. It’s way more like you’re just hanging out with 13 year olds and coming up with fun stuff for them to do.” Kelley had already planned this pep talk out in her head when she saw Emily’s resistance the day before. She shrugged her shoulders and pulled the towel out of her hair scrunching out any extra water. 

“I know your aunt runs the place, but how did you end up here? You’re not really coming off as the camp counselor type.” Kelley searched Emily for a non verbal answer but instead she just got a curt nod.

“Everyone needs something to take up time over the summer, bonus points if it pays. Super bonus points if it gets you away from your crazy family. So here I am.” Emily shrugged again and fiddled with the folder inside of her hands. 

“Is Christie part of the crazy family?” Kelley raises her eyebrows in a joking manner towards Emily who just laughs.

“Nah, her and her family are pretty amazing, so I’ll cut them some slack. Her daughters though can get extra crazy, I’m a little happy we aren’t in the tens cabin because Riley and Reece are the definition of high strung.” Kelley noticed that Emily had a bunch of small wrinkles around her eyes when she was genuinely smiling. 

“You might wish we were with the tenners in the second week once you realize that 13 year olds never truly sleep.” 

“I doubt that, they’re outside all day, they’ll get exhausted eventually.” The way Emily sounded so sure of herself made Kelley stifle a giggle, she knew that this girl won’t know what hit her in a few days.

“Okay boss whatever you say. Now, I’m hungry and you keep talking about everything we have to do. So are you ready to get to work or do you want to keep looking at that to do list all day?” Kelley jumped up and swung her towel onto the corner of her bunk. She slid her feet into flip flops and pulled sunglasses onto the top of her head waiting for Emily to head out with her.

When they arrived in the Dining Hall they were greeted with the sound of what appeared to be really bad rap music and Ashlyn dancing around with a whisk lazily mixing a bowl of eggs that looked as though it could tip over at any point. Sydney and Ali appeared to be in a challenge over who could chop an onion the fastest and Crystal had her head down on the table and still looked half asleep. 

“My brothers mix-tape!” Ashlyn screamed above the music jerking her head towards the stereo. Kelley hoped her grimace looked a lot like a smile but she knew it didn’t pass when Ali and Sydney laughed at her.

“Don’t worry, we hate it too.” Sydney yelled. She wiped the onion off of her hands and walked over to the stereo and turned it off. She blew a kiss to Ashlyn who shook her head and muttered something about people not understanding her life. 

Kelley walked back into the kitchen of the dining hall and opened up the fridge, pulling out a fresh apple and taking a huge bite. She laughed when she saw that she almost hit Emily with the fridge door not realizing she was following so close behind her. 

“Meals are more or less on your own unless Christie or the girls plan something different. There’s a little bit of everything here.” Kelley gestured around the kitchen before locking eyes with a box of Lucky Charms and grabbing it quickly smiling widely. She emerged from the kitchen as Ashlyn was entering arguing with Sydney over who can make a better omelette followed by Ali who had a tray of chopped veggies in her hands. 

Kelley went and sat on the bench next to the sleeping Crystal and started stacking Lucky Charms on her arm, trying to see how many she can get before waking Crystal up. By the time Emily slid in the seat across from Kelley, Crystal’s right arm was almost covered in the dry cereal, Kelley putting all of the marshmallows in her mouth. 

“She’s gonna murder you” Emily said as she mixed granola into a bowl of yogurt, gesturing at Crystal with a strawberry in her hand. 

“Well, if she wanted to sleep she should’ve stayed in her bunk. This is one of the lessons that you will learn from the campers very quickly.” Kelley had switched into pouring the cereal in a bowl and eating huge spoonfuls and slurping the milk loudly.

“Ew.” Emily was laughing but also made a disgusted face as she saw Kelley messily eat her breakfast. “I’ve seen frat boys eat cleaner than that.”

“I told you I was hungry.” Kelley said alternating back to her apple. She noted that Emily was taking polite bites of her yogurt and berries and still looked out of place in the big camp, with her blow-dried hair and spotless appearance. 

“Wake up. I made you eggs” Sydney yelled in Crystal’s ear shoving a plate of eggs into Crystal’s arms, causing her to jerk awake and scatter cereal all over the table, causing uproarious laughter from all of the girls. 

“I’m awake okay.” Crystal muttered looking confused at the scattered cereal at the table. “Damnit Kelley every year!” She said grumpily picking up a fork and stabbing her eggs like they were the ones who woke her up. “Ashlyn’s are better” she grumbled after taking a few bites. 

Kelley snorted so hard she milk almost came out of her nose when Sydney made the most offended face and snatched the plate away from Crystal and added the eggs to her own plate. Kelley noted Emily’s wide eyed amusement at the entire exchange. 

“So Emily, how was your first night. Did you sweat through your sheets yet?” Ali poked at her eggs with a fork, Kelley noted that her eggs appeared to be rubbery and a little brown but knew that Ali was eating them out of solidarity to Ashlyn. 

“Other than this one snoring and whoever it was that was howling at the moon at around 2 am, it’s so far so good.” Emily shrugged licking some extra yogurt off of her spoon before carefully digging out a blackberry. 

“Ugh. I’m glad I’m not the only one who heard Steph and Kristie being the worst last night.” Crystal groaned, she was reaching her fork over to Sydney’s plate and taking bites off of egg and grinning widely at Sydney. 

“It’s their thing. They’re like a female wolf pack or something so they howl. Wait until they get their 15’s in on it. It’s going to be the most.” Sydney rolled her eyes at the idea and at Crystal who was now greedily eating off of her plate. 

“You’re not serious?” Emily’s eyebrows shot up but there was laughter in her eyes that Kelley noted.

“I’m so serious. They are nuts the two of them.” Sydney scoffed

“Okay like you and Crystal are so chill yourselves. Miss Midnight Dance Party” Ali looked over and rolled her eyes at Sydney who just shrugged. 

“You can beat them or you can join them.” Crystal said as a matter of fact grinning as she finished the eggs of of Sydney’s plate.

“Whats up my bitches!” All six heads turned at the same time to see Steph walking in wearing running shorts and a sports bra, followed directly by Kristie, Christen, Moe, Tobin and an exhausted looking Sam. All six were glistening with sweat and looked properly energized, except for Sam who looked dead on her feet.

“Did they really get up and run this morning?” Emily asks staring at the girls who are either making their way into the kitchen to grab breakfast items or dramatically collapsing to the floor in Sam and Moe’s case. 

“Yeah, they're all D1 athletes or something, soccer and tennis mostly. The running isn't every morning but Steph gets a kick out of dragging the campers out to run with her at six in the morning so she keeps it up for most of the summer.” Kelley shrugged and laughed at Kristie who was dangling a banana just out of Sam’s reach while Sam laid on the floor and groaned in protest. 

“It was so nice of you to make me breakfast!” Tobin muses and wiggles her way between Ashlyn and Ali, taking Ali’s fork and eating a huge bite of eggs. “Actually on second thought. Keep those to yourself. I'll make my own breakfast.” Tobin chokes out after forcibly swallowing the bite of omelette she stole. Ashlyn looked offended while Crystal and Ali openly giggled. 

“How was your first night? Did the wolfpack wake you up?” Christen asks as she slides into the bench next to Emily, her breakfast of yogurt and granola is almost identical to hers. 

“So that's a real thing huh?” Emily asks, pulling her hair into a half ponytail off her face.

“Get used to it. They're insane.” Sam sat down on the other side of Kelley, tearing into a banana and putting large chunks in her mouth at a time. “Kristie is my real life sister and I love her and all that, but she's also a psychopath.” Sam pretended to whisper the last part with her mouth full of banana. It was answered by a blueberry being thrown at her head by a smiling Kristie. “Like I said psychopath” Sam whispered. Emily just smiled and looked down into her empty bowl. 

“So what happens now?” Emily asked looking around the room of the relaxed women all eating and chatting just as easily as they were the night before.

“Same as yesterday mostly. We just have to keep setting up before the campers come. Prepare cabins, clean up around here, do all the stuff that's needed for outdoor activities. Pretty usual camp stuff.” Christen shrugged and grinned digging into her bowl for more yogurt. “It's going to be pretty chill for the next few days. Lauren and Amy will be around some, so will Christie, but really it's just making sure we get camp ready and have fun.” Christen’s overly white smile was offset by her olive skin, she smiled openly and warmly to Emily, which made Kelley feel more comfortable altogether. 

“Dishes first, then let's finish nametags.” Kelley nodded at Emily who stood up at the same time so they could both empty dishes in the kitchen.   
“When camp starts we have this really amazing cook named Jill and she and her staff make amazing meals for the campers. All of that high protein and healthy stuff that still convinces the campers they are eating junk food.” Kelley answers the blank look on Emily’s face as she observes the industrial sized kitchen and appliances. “It’s pretty much all access for us as long as you aren’t like Tobin and decide you need to take an entire crate of peaches with you to keep in your cabin so you can barter them for goods and services.” Kelley laughs at the memory of Tobin and her 14’s a few years ago who used peaches as a trading system in order to get what they wanted all throughout camp.

“So really, you all come here just as an excuse to act like giant kids yourself.” It was an observation by Emily not necessarily a question, but her wide eyes the the crinkles in the corner showed Kelley that she was kidding mostly.

The two walked back into the dining space and spread out their work much like they did the night before. Kelley worked on cutting and pasting while Emily worked on assembling the name tags. All of the girls had partnered up once they finished their breakfast and continued their work from the night before, working on decorations, name tags and any little thing to decorate their cabin. They were all so absorbed in their world of poster board and highlighter colored markers they didn’t notice Amy and Lauren walking in and looking at the girls adoringly.

“Look at them, all grown up and working on brainwashing their own campers.” Amy said loudly nudging Lauren in the ribs, who just responded by laughing. 

“Uhoh” Kelley whispered. Emily looked up at her with questioning eyes. “Don’t ask, just keep your head down and keep working.” Kelley smiled and continued writing a campers name in block letters on the splat shaped paper.

“Alright ladies, you know the drill. I need four of you to help me stripe the fields. I am not afraid to pick names out of a hat or sit on you until you forcibly surrender.” Lauren looked Sydney in the eye, who just sighed and went over and stood by her. 

“What’s striping the fields?” Emily asked quietly to Kelley who was already shaking her head no.

“If you thought you were hot yesterday, you do not want to be in one hundred degree heat for hours while Lauren measures each playing field with a yard stick making sure that they are regulation size.” Kelley hurriedly whispers while Lauren makes her way around the tables, leaning over and grinning widely at girls until they submit and agree to help. 

“I need five people to help me powerwash the dock and the pool, clean lifeguard chairs, you know the works. Afterwards when we fill up the pool you all can have the first swim!” Amy sounded so cheerful that Kelley couldn’t help but smile. “Also the three of you that don’t come with us are going to be answering phone calls all day in the office with Christie from worried parents. And you will have to use your professional voice.” Amy lowered her voice as if she was saying a real threat and Kelley saw Emily’s eyes twinkle. 

“Come on, power washing is fun and even so at least being near the water is better than being in the middle of a field sweating our asses off.” Kelley stood up and offered a hand to Emily who accepted and came to her feet to join Moe, Sam and Ashlyn all by Amy. Lauren after wrangling Sydney had also cornered Steph, Kristie and Tobin into helping. Crystal, Christen and Ali all said they would stay behind and serve as the errand girls for Christie. 

Amy lead the girls out of the Dining Hall and towards the outskirts of the camp towards the lake. Kelley tried not to watch too closely as Emily observed all parts of the camp, clearly never exploring it this far. 

“I wasn’t just being an ass when I told you that blow drying your hair wasn’t going to last long.” Kelley mused, watching Emily huff and put her hair into a ponytail. “But look, isn’t Amy so adorable?” Amy was bouncing around from counselor to counselor talking about all of the ideas that she had for the summer, how she had officially stopped that one filter in the pool from breaking and how she thinks she hired some of her best life guards yet. “A lot of the girls when they get too old to be campers, but are still too young to be counselors end up coming and being lifeguards or other helpers over the summer.” Kelley explained to Emily who had just asked who the lifeguards were. “I’m pretty sure they get paid less than minimum wage, but when I was 17 I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.” Kelley laughed as Emily silently nodded. 

“Okay, Emily and Kelley, you get to power wash the pool and clean off all the lifeguard stands. When you’re done we can start filling it up.” Amy pointed towards the direction of the pool and waved Kelley and Emily in that direction. “Moe and Ashlyn, go into the lifeguard hut and sort out all of the supplies for swim tests and beyond. Sam, follow me, there’s some dock repairs that have your name written all over it!”

“I highly doubt my name is actually written all over it. How come the dock never writes Kristie’s name on it. Or Moe’s?” It was funny to Kelley how Sam, who stood over a foot taller than Amy was whining and groaning while Amy marched forward and ignored her. 

Kelley and Ashlyn chatted while Emily and Moe followed behind towards the gated pool area, the early afternoon sun was already warm above them and creating a haze in the distance. Ashlyn opened the gate and all the girls filed in. Kelley couldn’t help but think how sad the camp always looked before the campers arrived, before everything was ready and filled with life. They walked to the back of the area where there was a small broken looking shed that had everything they needed in there. Ashlyn found the power washer and held out the hose making very predictable “say hello to my little friend” jokes before Kelley wrangled it out of her hands. 

Emily and Kelley got to work. Kelley handed Emily the hose and went to go connect the washer to the water.  
“How does this thing work?” Emily asked, she was pressing a few switches on the hose impatiently while Kelley went to go turn on the water.

“Hold on and I’ll come over there and show you.” Kelley said as she reached the water line and turned it on. The shriek that followed told her that Emily had figured out how to get the water started and Kelley let out a huge laugh when she saw a random clean spot in the middle of the pool where Emily had aimed the washer. “I see you figured it out.” Kelley’s comment was met with cold eyes as Emily handed her the hose.

“Yeah, something like that. I feel like this thing could take off my toes if someone isn’t careful.” Kelley couldn’t help but laugh again at Emily’s annoyance.

“That’s why you have to handle it carefully, here let me show you.” The girls loaded the washer into the pool and took turns cleaning the dirt off in small streaks, occasionally commenting on the grossness of the dirt or writing curse words in the grime with the washer and cackling at their genius. 

Over an hour later they had the large pool about halfway done before Kelley suggested that they take a break. As if on cue Ali and Christen walked into the pool area with a small cooler, both of their faces sporting big smiles and bigger sunglasses. Ashlyn and moe walked out of the shack and Ashlyn dramatically fell to the ground much like Sam did earlier that morning. Ali responded by opening up a bottle of cold water and dumping some on Ashlyn. 

“I swear to God it’s like nine thousand degrees in that tiny shack” Moe whined. She was covered in sweat, her forehead shining in the sunlight and the front neck of her shirt completely wet. 

“I’ve answered at least 30 phone calls this morning from parents and all questions were answered in the welcome packet. The camp has a lake and a pool, yes your kid needs a swimsuit and sunscreen for that matter. Yes we provide three meals a day.” Ali sat down next to Ashlyn who was now pretending to pant.

“It’s not that bad, it’s just all in the name of the game.” Kelley shrugged, to be honest her arms were a bit sore from the pressure hose but she didn’t mind. Christen had opened up the cooler and pulled out sandwiches that she had packed for the four girls working. 

“Aren’t you missing half of the pool?” Ali said with a bite of a PB&J sandwich in her mouth, she was gesturing towards the half filthy pool that had yet to be pressure washed. Kelley rolled her eyes and threw a cheeto puff at Ali. 

“It’s on our todo list, then around the pool and the lifeguard chairs.” Emily said, her voice was even, not necessarily complaining, just listing what their todo list looked like 

“And afterwards we have to mow all of the grass and bake each person here an individual cake and clean the floors with a toothbrush.” Ashlyn whined, she rolled over and propped her head on Ali’s leg and took a bite out of a sandwich. The girls had a quick lunch, throughout most Emily remained silent, pensive eating her turkey and swiss, thanking the girls when they left and heading back to the pool to finish their job. 

It took most of the afternoon for the four girls to get the pool area in order. By early evening the deck was spotless, the clean pool had started filling with water, the entire area was tidy and ready for a hundred girls to come in the next week. Ashlyn and Moe had organized the entire lifeguard shack and were proud to show their efforts of organized swim test bracelets, a repaired window, fully stocked first aid kits and 12 life guard manuals assembled. They also bragged about how they cleared a hornets nest with minimal crying and even might have seen a dead rat or an old rag, it was undetermined what the item could’ve been and was quickly removed by Ashlyn screaming. The four girls all exhausted and sweaty headed to their cabin to change into relatively cleaner clothes and take a breather before getting back to work on their cabins. 

Kelley walked into the cabin and straight into the shower, only pausing to deposit her flip flops by the door. She didn’t even bother to take off her sweaty clothes. She stood under the cold stream and let out an exasperated sigh. Emily curiously followed her into bathroom and burst out laughing when she saw a fully clothed Kelley standing in the shower with her head against the questionably clean shower wall. 

“I told you that it was going to be hot all summer.” Kelley said finally feeling significantly less gross. Emily had pulled her hair into a bun at the top of her head and had a washcloth and was dabbing her face and her neck attempting to cool off. Emily shrugged and headed back into the main cabin, already reaching her tank top over her head in search for a new, less sweaty one. Kelley felt her temperature spike again when she glanced over at Emily supporting herself on the dresser but shook her head and relished in the cool water again. “Grab a swimsuit, the pool will be filled by tonight!” Kelley shouted out, turning on the water and stripping off her soaked clothes. She grabbed a towel from earlier and tied it around her chest and went in search of clean clothes herself.

Ali, Christen and Crystal surprised everyone pleasantly by making spaghetti for everyone. Kelley was pleased to see that most of the other girls were comically exhausted and overheated just as she had been. She looked over and saw Emily silently sitting by their name tags, working on coloring in a few of the ones that hadn’t been finished yet and eating her spaghetti alone. 

“What’s her story?” Sydney whispered sliding in next to Kelley. She was covered in white powder from striping the fields and smelled strongly of summertime sweat and grass.

“She’s probably just tired. It’s been a lot to take in.” Kelley shrugged, wiping red sauce off her face and stabbing her fork into her salad. 

“Kells. How full was the pool? As in can I go swimming right this second?” Tobin yelled from across the dining hall, causing everyone to laugh.

“If you want to go check, be my guest. But it was a little more than halfway full when we left about an hour ago.” Kelley shrugged. Everyone laughed again when Tobin all but sprinted out of the Dining Hall. The air was light as everyone chatted about their days and things they have marked off their to-do list and things that were still on there. Everyone took turns filling Emily in on summers past and telling her that today was the hardest day of camp set up and everything else was mostly just making sure things looked nice. She nodded and agreed in the right places and smiled at the appropriate times, never adding much to the conversation. 

Tobin had come back and announced that the pool was almost full and Amy was in the process of putting in and measuring chemicals so they should be able to go out soon. The girls all cheered and made their way into the dishes washing process. Kristie put on what she called her “absolutely best playlist that will get anyone turnt” playlist and did not accept any complaints or eye rolls when Party in the USA was the first song that came blaring through the speakers. 

The sun was starting to set when the parade of girls headed down to the pool everyone laughing and tired. Kelley was in between Sam and Steph where the two of them were comparing their Boston accents when she felt her elbow being pulled. She turned around and saw it was Emily.

“I’m gonna head back to the cabin and hang out for a little while. Tell everyone I’ll see them tomorrow.” Emily’s short non apology was all she said before giving a small wave and turning back toward the cabin. Kelley thought about trying to convince her to stay and hang out, but she knew that she didn’t know Emily well enough to be able to come up with a convincing argument for why she should go drink okay beer in an over chlorinated pool with people she didn’t know very well. Kelley didn’t give it another thought and skipped away towards the pool listening to Ali and Ashlyn heckle each other over who had the more productive day. 

A few hours later Kelley walked into the cabin and had to blink back at the sudden bright light of the fluorescents in the cabin. She realized that everything had moved, all the beds, the dressers, even all of her stuff had been moved. Kelley was torn between confused and angry until she saw a sweaty and grunting Emily who was in the middle of the room with her back to a bunk, pushing it as hard as she can by scooting her feet. Kelley let out a laugh until Emily looked up and saw her.

“You just went HGTV in our cabin? Do you need help?” Kelley stumbled out. Emily just sighed and laughed as an explanation and raised her arms up. 

“I came here to like chill out and then I thought about what you said about how this place has to feel a home for all the campers and I couldn’t really get my head straight so I decided instead to do some, uh, rearranging.” Emily had the genuine smile again with wrinkles around her eyes, she was still leaning against a bunk with her legs stretched out, her back holding most of her weight. 

“This stuff is so heavy! Emily you should’ve asked for help.” Kelley walked around the room and saw that the room had been organized with all of the beds against the walls creating a square around the room. There were two bunks right in the middle of the room pushed together, the top bunk of one had Kelley’s bedding on top of it, and Kelley noticed that Emily had moved her stuff to the bunk directly below hers. “Okay but what is this set up?” Kelley asked. Emily just laughed and placed her hands on her knees taking a deep breath before standing up straight.

“Okay remember how you said the kids play pranks? Well this way we can see everything that happens around us, so we are always on alert! Get it?” Emily was laughing at her own idea and Kelley cracked a smile in response before openly laughing herself.

“I can't tell if that is the worst or best idea I have ever heard. And why are the two bunks pushed together? So you can have a bigger bed?” Kelley teased Emily.

“Duh, I have a queen in my apartment and going back to a twin would've been rough. Also you can remove the bars on the top bunk so that you can make a double for yourself.” Emily explained, she had one eyebrow raised looking at Kelley as if to say “see, this is genius.”

“So you didn't want to hang out but instead you rearranged two thousand pounds of furniture?” Kelley mused 

“Hey now, we got a long summer. I have to get my me time when I can.” Emily explained. 

Kelley looked around their bed set up and noticed that Emily looked more “moved in” in this set up than she had in the other one. Kelley decided that a bed was a bed and she was going to make sure that she got enough sleep even if she was sleeping in the middle of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said I would update every Saturday or Sunday? I lied. But this isn't too late. Slow burn is my religion so get used to it. Campers arrive next chapter!


	4. I Wanna Dance With Somebody

“Isn’t she beautiful.” Kelley said, taking a step back for emphasis and wiping a fake tear from her eye. She looked around the cabin and saw that everything was exactly how she had pictured it when her and Emily had decided on the theme for the summer. 

“Get over yourself?” Emily said scoffing playfully at Kelley. “But this does look amazing” she admitted with a shrug. 

The cabin was covered in posters of various 90’s pop stars, on the walls were big drawings of cartoon characters from shows like The Rugrats, Pepper Ann, Doug and Cat Dog that Emily had drawn on white butcher paper. They had spent a whole afternoon cutting them out and coloring them and laughed at Ashlyn’s jealousy over Emily’s artwork. Each bed at a name tag attached to the front of it and a tiny goodie bag, which had a slap bracelet, a tiny rainbow slinky and a friendship bracelet all wrapped in the tie dye bandanas and secured with a scrunchie. 

Kelley looked around the room admiring again before she heard Emily clear her throat.

“Snap out of it, we have children arriving in two hours and I’m still freaked about that.” Emily said. Her eyes scanned the cabin again and she walked towards the closest bunk straightening the name tags. 

“I’ve told you once I’ve told you a thousand times, the kids are the easiest part of this.” Kelley went over to the door and propped the screen door open, hoping to let in some breeze. It was already warm outside but not uncomfortable yet. Much like she predicted, Emily had stopped blow drying her hair in the morning and had settled into the universal camp hairstyle of a messy bun. They had spent the past five days in deep cleaning mode, they had dusted, washed and polished every inch of their cabin, the dining hall and all of the facilities. They spent one full day stuffing camper and parent information packets in an assembly line fashion with the other 10 counselors until every folder and envelope was signed, sealed and ready to be delivered. Kelley was pleased to see that Emily was fitting in nicely with the other counselors and even offered to drive when someone needed to go pick up the Official Camp T-Shirts and only looked briefly at Kelley with begging eyes to come with her after Ashlyn and Ali volunteered to go with. Overall the summer felt seamless so far and the entire camp looked great. 

Kelley was knocked out of her trance when she heard a giant “HOWDY” and the roar of an engine from outside of the cabin. She and Emily laughed loudly when they saw Steph speeding on a tractor with a cowboy hat on her head, she had Kristie, Sam and Moe in the attached trailer and was going as fast as the tractor would go. 

“She really thinks she’s catching wind.” Emily came and stood by the door next to Kelley, leaning against the door frame and crossing her arms over her chest. 

“I don’t think she has any idea she’s going more than maybe 4 miles an hour.” Kelley mused and watched the three in the back of the trailer try desperately not to fall off as they hung onto the folding chairs that were also in the trailer with them. 

“Come on nerds we have to go set up!” Steph screamed from across the camp, she was joined by a chorus of the other three calling them nerds and slow pokes until Kelley and Emily walked out of the cabin and headed towards the dining hall. 

“That is the saddest looking banner I have ever seen.” Emily said walking up to the dining hall and looking at the banner being hung by Tobin who was teetering on a chair with a staple gun in her hand. The banner said “Wecome to Camp Takatoa!” the writing was all slanted to one side and the letters gradually got smaller trying to fit each letter in. 

“Tobin. Honey. No.” Christen walked out of the Dining Hall laughing and looking at the pathetic banner. 

“What! I did exactly what Christie asked” Tobin had hopped off the chair and stood back admiring her work.

“Who's going to tell her that she spelled welcome wrong?” Ashlyn fake whispered to Kelley, pushing past her with arms full of welcome packets. 

“I’m gonna let Chris take care of that.” Kelley walked into the dining hall flanked by Emily and Ashlyn trying not to laugh as she heard the disgruntled cries of Tobin who had apparently just realized her mistake. 

There was a mini breakfast spread on one of the fair tables filled with donuts, juices, fruit and pastries of all kind. It clearly had already been destroyed by a few of the other counselors as told by the discarded plates and napkins and the tale tale glaze crumbs from a donut all over the table. Kelley ran over and grabbed a danish and a piece of pineapple with her fingers and handed a plate to Emily.

“What needs to be done?” Emily asked looking around.

“Open your eyes new kid, everything needs to be done.” Moe said exasperatedly while dragging in a long table. Sam was trailing behind it, clearly supposed to be helping but laughing at Morgan’s efforts. 

“Mostly we have to clean up, separate our areas and folders so our girls know where to come when they check in, finish organizing the welcome packets, move our cars excetera excetera.” Kelley rambled off, shoving half of the danish into her mouth. She looked over at Emily who seemed to be calculating things in her head, her eyes moving over the room. 

“I’m going to be honest with you. You just gotta tell me what to do so I don’t feel useless.” Emily said with a shrug. Kelley laughed and nudged her and finished off the danish.

“Come on, we’ll help them unload the trailer.” Kelley walked out with Emily on her heels towards the parked tractor. Apparently it was not a smooth ride due to the scattered folding chairs throughout the camp that had fallen off the trailer. Steph and Kristie appeared to be in a race of who could pick up the most and were sprinting around with chairs clanging against their legs and arms. “Just go stack them by the door” Kelley jutted her head towards the entrance of the dining hall where Tobin and Christian were currently in talks of making a new banner and Ali and Ashlyn were struggling with opening up the folding tables. 

Over the next hour there were tables set up all in front of the dining hall, one for each cabin as well as one for the camp nurse and the main registration table. Each table was noted with a highlighter pink sign that Emily and Kelley had proudly made. Crystal and Steph had lined up traffic cones in order to indicate parking and pull throughs for all the parents and all of the welcome packets had been sorted, organized and stacked at the appropriate areas. Lauren and Amy showed up, each holding a box on their hip and dramatically dropped them to the ground.

“Gather ‘round ladies. Come grab your staff shirts.” Amy ripped open the box and started tossing out shirts to the counselors who walked forward and fielded the questions and comments of “yes it’s a polo.” “you only have to wear it today and the last day of camp” “I don’t care if you think it’s ugly.” and “this is the smallest size they come in Sydney.” 

“We look super official and also super lame” Emily said tugging the shirt on over her head. Kelley was shoving her hair into a ponytail and tucked her shirt into her shorts. 

“Not the best look but it does make us look the part.” She looked around and saw Ashlyn who had just put her short hair until a tiny pony tail on the top of her head complaining about “frizz” while Ali rolled her eyes. 

“Campers and their anxious parents should be here in a little under half an hour, it looks great in here just make sure to tighten up your tables and if you have any questions or last minute freak outs, direct them towards Christie.” Lauren laughed and patted Christie on the back.

“You look like you’re about ready to run away.” Kelley looked at Emily who had wide eyes and was looking all around the dining hall like she was trying to figure out where she was. Emily just shrugged a little and her face relaxed. “Don’t worry, worst case scenario, a child runs away and we both go to prison but other than that it will be fine. Christie would get a way worse sentence than us anyway.” Kelley giggled at her own joke while Christie scowled at her as she walked by.

“First day’s the hardest.” She said patting Emily’s shoulder. “Don’t sweat it, you’ll be fine.”

“Yeah I know. Whatever happens is what happens.” Emily shrugged, her eyes blank.  
“Here, put your bandana on, it’s time to go in full hardcore cheesy mode” Kelley rolled up her bandana and tied it around her head like a sweatband, she knew that the tie dye clashed with the bright blue camp shirts, but she almost got a smile out of Emily when she finished the look and made a huge cheesy smile with jazz hands. The two walked over and straightened their welcome folders and chairs while Kelley added some “last minute pizazz” to their poster. She noted that Emily had become reserved since they left the cabin this morning and was slouched back in her chair. Kelley started to get the sinking feeling in her stomach that she had the first few days when she realized that Emily was going to be her new partner. She tried to think of something reassuring, or comforting to say to Emily but she let her annoyance and camp counselor vibes take over and decided to leave it. 

“I see minivans!” Sydney rushed into the room her hair sticking to the side of her face and her polo already partially untucked from her shorts. All of the counselors laughed at her disarray as she tried to straighten her appearance after running from the main office in a hurry. Lauren and Amy left to go direct traffic while the counselors took place either by the doors and their tables. Christie had taken post directly in front of the door, ready to introduce herself to every camper and parent as she had done every year. 

Sydney had gotten her appearance together with the help of Kristie and Crystal and most of the girls were talking softly amongst themselves as they heard the scrunch of gravel and screech of tires. 

“Okay so what's going to happen is the parents are going to come and sign their kid in and we are going to do the whole happy go lucky camp counselor thing, then one of us is going to take the kiddos to the cabin to get settled in a few campers at a time. Do you want to be the one sitting here and greeting, or do you want to be the runner?” Kelley turned to Emily who had straightened up in her chair a little and considered the question, her eyes were wide with anxiety and she just looked over at Kelley. “Oh that’s right, you want to be told what to do today. Okay you stay here and sign the campers in and greet the parents, after I walk down with the first group you can send down the kiddos with their parents to the cabin and once everyone is signed in just meet us down there.”

“So you’re leaving me on the front lines?” Emily’s tone had a little jest in it but the high quip of anxiety in her voice didn’t go unnoticed. As she was speaking a lanky girl was being pulled into a hug by Christie while her parents were animatedly gesturing about the camp. 

“Trust. The questions you’re going to get up here are going to be way easier than the questions that the parents hit you with when you are trapped in the cabin during their set up and settling time. Don’t worry, you got this.” Kelley held out her first for a fist bump and wiggled her eyebrows at Emily, who didn’t seem at all relaxed after the impromptu pep talk, she fist bumped Kelley anyway and half heartedly made the “blow up” noises which Kelley considered a success anyway. Kelley nudged Emily’s shoulder and grinned as the Dining Hall started filling with pre teens, teenagers, their parents and their very large luggage. Emily and Kelley were swarmed in no time, mostly with returning campers who were excited to see Kelley again and be back for another year. Kelley talked to the parents with ease, directing them to the appropriate tables and feeling incredibly old being reintroduced to the thirteens who she remembered as much smaller twelves last summer. 

After a group of about six of the 13 year old campers and their parents had gathered in the Dining Hall, Kelley looked over at Emily and indicated that she was going to lead the group to the cabin. “Don’t worry, if you need anything just buzz me on the walkie and you can send down the parents as soon as they get signed in.” Kelley nodded at the walkie-talkie in front of Emily and clipped her own to her belt buckle, and smiled as she felt even more official. 

“Okay ladies! Lets go to our new home, I’m so excited for you to tell me just how much you love your decorations!” Kelley placed an arm around a camper on each side and turned back at Emily who was shaking her head and grinning. She still hadn’t perked up but Kelley was really hoping that she would come around by the time the parents left. The group passed Moe with a sign on a stick above her head leading about eight tenners and their parents to the cabin all assembled in a straight line, Steph who was carrying as many bags as possible on her arms and still trying to race her 15 year olds to the cabin and Christen who was in a quiet conversation with a small group of parents showing them exactly where the lake was while her 14 year olds all gossiped around her. 

Kelley knew that her and Emily had done a good job with the decorations the second the door to the cabin opened and the girls had scuttled trying to pick the “best” bunk and calling “dibs” for their friends who hadn’t arrived yet. Almost all of the girls were running around comparing name tags and a few already had their scrunchies in their hair, Kelley felt like her smile couldn’t get any bigger as she watched parents help campers get sheets on their bed and listened to the girls “catch each other up” on everything that they had missed out on since last summer. She roamed around the cabin, welcoming the families that would wander in about every three or four minutes and answering any and all questions that the parents shot her way. She was in the middle of answering for the third time that the campers will still get to recieve mail but phone calls were for important messages and emergencies only when she saw Emily enter through the door of the cabin flanked by two campers who were chatting excitedly and looking at Emily for approval at the end of each sentence. Emily had her eyebrows raised and an amused expression on her face and grinned widely when she saw Kelley. The small cabin was way over capacity with teenagers and their parents all organizing for the summer, some had siblings that were also attending the camp that were filtering in and out of the cabin and some had other siblings that had gathered outside feigning boredom. 

“I see you survived the rest of registration?” Kelley walked over to Emily who was securing her own bandana just as Kelley had done earlier and how many of their campers had already done.   
“Oh yeah, Aunt C made sure I was okay and all of the parents were super nice. Ashlyn had a minor freak out because apparently the camper that had a huge crush on her is back this summer. But other than that, smooth as butter.” Emily clicked her tongue and shot out finger guns to Kelley who immediately rolled her eyes. 

“Okay so there is an orientation back in the dining hall in about an hour and then…” Kelley looked at Emily who was waving her hand away at Kelley.

“And then cabin bonding until dinner followed by a movie night and the first campfire. Lights out at 10:30” Emily rattled off, her eyes scanning the cabin before bringing her eyes back to Kelley and raising her eyebrows. “You know that I’ve been memorizing the schedule all week, don’t seem so surprised.” Kelley laughed at Emily’s burst of confidence. 

“Okay then. Let’s do this thing.” Kelley turned her back and dove back into the sea of parents, one of whom had brought in a mini fridge, how they got it past Christie was beyond Kelley. She went to go put out that small fire while Emily went and introduced herself to a few parents, as though she had been doing this as long as Kelley.

The rest of the afternoon went by quickly and loudly. Kelley forgot about how much teenage girls talk, because there was a constant buzzing of chatter and giggles ever since registration started. The seemingly sad and lonely camp from the last week had instantly livened up with the addition of a hundred youths and all of the counselors had adjusted their motivation and energy accordingly. Sydney had not stopped dancing with her “glam squad” as she and Crystal had named their cabin of elevens. Sam seemed to be in an endless game of arm wrestling with her campers who were all mildly impressed by her “gun show”. Ali already had several new braids in her hair adorned by her campers and even Ashlyn had a tiny braid in the middle of her tiny ponytail. The orientation went by quickly and most of the girls were so excited for the summer to start that they brushed off all of their parents with quick goodbyes and hugs. 

It was nearing the end of the first campfire, each of the campers stuffed with s'mores and chatty with the sugar and excitement of today. Emily was walking around picking up discarded trash and sticks and checking in on campers with a concentrated look on her face.

“She seemed to fit in just fine today.” Tobin sidled up next to Kelley and nodded in Emily’s direction “Chris told me that she head like three campers come up and start grilling her about who she was and where Alex was and apparently she handled it like a champ.” Tobin shrugged and smiled a lazy smile.

“Handled it like a champ huh?” Kelley looked around and saw Krisite with henna supplies out already adorning the members of her cabin in hand tattoos, on the other side of the fire Ashlyn had out a ball point pen and was drawing smilie faces on the hands of her campers who said they were jealous. 

“Yeah, told them that she thought Alex got eaten by wolves and she was the alien sent to take her place.” Tobin had a light airy giggle that made Kelley shake her head.

“You’re shitting… I mean you’re kidding me.”

“No, I’m so serious that's what Christen told me.” Kelley and Tobin were both laughing, Kelley thinking again that she might have been underestimating Emily. They both turned their heads when they heard the strum of a guitar and saw Lauren strumming and softly singing a song. She continued until the entire camp fire scene was silent and had their eyes on her.

“Okay ladies today was awesome! Me and the counselors are so excited that you are all here and can’t wait for a great summer!” Christie grasped her hands, it amazed Kelley how she had the attention of the entire camp in just a few seconds. “Lights out is in twenty minutes so we gotta clean up, head back to our cabins and get ready for tomorrow!” She dismissed everyone and all of the campers started to clump together by age group, the chatter starting back up again, Emily made eye contact with Kelley and wiggled her way over to her. 

“Now it’s all us, the real test begins newbie” Kelley nudged Emily and attempted to wolf whistle, gathering the attention of all of the campers around her. “Okay thirteens! First one back to the cabin gets the tiny personal fan that I bought for the night!” All of the girls perked up in excitement and got ready to run. “On your mark! Get set! Get that fan!” the girls sprinted forward along with Kelley who had grabbed Emily’s arm and ran with her.

“What are you doing?” Emily panted running alongside Kelley.

“I don’t wanna give that fan up! Duh.” Kelley said pulling her and running a bit faster. 

They reached the cabin behind all of their campers, and with no one in agreement who came in first, Kelley decided it was only fair if she got to keep the fan for the night, which lead to major moaning and whining from most of the girls much to her enjoyment. The girls bounced around the cabin getting ready for bed and still running on the excitement of today.

“Kelley! I remembered to bring it again this year!” one of Kelley’s campers from last year, Caitlin was standing by her side holding out an iPod classic, last year this was a major player for many dance-a-thons and cabin parties.

“Sweet! Thanks Caity! I’m gonna hook it up right now!” Kelley pulled on the end of the girls ponytail and winked, before heading over to her speakers she had bought for the summer. “Okay pretty ladies! You all have until the end of this song to have your tiny butts in bed and ready for lights out.” Kelley shouted above the masses, she was met with a mixed responses such as “Okay Miss Kelley” and “yeah yeah” and “whatever you say boss lady.” She scrolled through the iPod before clicking on “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Whitney Houston and the sound filling the cabin.   
“Can this be more cliche?” Emily laughed to Kelley when the whole cabin broke out in dancing and singing. The young teenage girls linking hands and twirling one another, others singing into toothbrushes and hairbrushes and a few others already getting cranky and ready for bed. 

“Get used to it. All summer long.” Kelley pulled the end of Emily's hand and twirled herself singing along to the song before shouting out “one minute!” dancing by all the campers as they were settling into their beds and ready for the night. The song ended and Kelley walked over to the front of the cabin with Emily while the girls all settled into their bunks. They could still hear the sounds of the surrounding cabins singing and dancing and the distinctive howling from the “female wolf pack” that Steph and Kristie had clearly already assembled. 

“Okay girls! Tomorrow is the first day of real camp stuff! First alarms go off at 5:30 for rise and shine yoga lead by Christen and running club lead by Steph, everyone else is going to be at breakfast by 7:30, which means by 7 if you aren’t up I’m going to sit on you. All clear?” Kelley looked around the cabin at the semi interested girls who were giggling and rolling their eyes and was met with mostly affirmative responses. She looked over at Emily “Emily, anything you wanna add?” Emily shrugged and looked around the cabin.

“Kelley snores so you all want to fall asleep before she does!” This was met with an eruption of laughter and Kelley rolling her eyes and flipping off the light switches. 

“If you’re chatting in more than 20 minutes I’m going to come stand at the edge of the bed and watch you until you fall asleep, and then that’s going to creep us both out so try to sleep. Y’all have two months to be besties.” Kelley said with a wave of her hand, the chatter wound down to just whispers and creaking of the bunks. 

“What do we do now?” Emily searched for Kelley’s eyes in the dark.

“I thought you had everything memorized Miss Over Prepared?” Kelley shrugged her shoulders and laughed and made one last round around the room, bopping each of the campers on the head and telling them to “hush and close their eyes” before climbing into her bunk. Emily settled into hers with her booklight and open book while the cabin grew quiet around them. 

“Miss Emily, you’re not going to do this all summer are you?” One of the campers whispered out which caused the entire cabin to erupt in giggles. Kelley could hear Emily stammering below her and was giggling herself. 

“Lets just be happy she doesn’t howl all night like the fifteens or make everyone do jumping jacks when they wake up like the tenners.” Kelley said from the top bunk. Her comment was met with Emily reaching around the bunk for a fist bump and Kelley reaching down to reciprocate. The entire cabin was almost silent in thirty minutes until howling in the distance created another eruption of giggles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said I was going to update and then didn't for literal months? Hopefully I'll get better about that. Slow burn is my jam so get used to it. This is all setting background and the story will start progressing further soon.


End file.
